NOTES: Net federal subsidy is estimated as federal outlays minus federal receipts from transportation taxes and user fees. Actual outlays and receipts are used in the calculation. Negative numbers show user charge payments to the federal government in excess of cost responsibility. The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 allowed motor fuel taxpayers to delay until October 5, 1998, the payment of fuel taxes that otherwise would be due in August and September of 1998. This provision effectively shifted about $6 billion in Highway Trust Fund receipts from 1998 to 1999. We have included these funds in FY 1998, when they were actually paid by highway users.

SOURCES: BTS estimations based on data from the following sources: Executive Office of the President of the United States, Office of Management and Budget, "Budget of the United States Government  Appendix," Washington, D.C.: Annual publication.

Congressional Research Service (CRS), "Transportation Fuel Taxes, Legislative Issues, and the Transportation Equity Act," CRS Report for Congress, June 17, 1998; and _____"Transportation Fuel Taxes After the 1993 Budget Act: How Much? For What? And for How Long?" CRS Report for Congress, October 7, 1993.